The Frigibax Family

And just like that, we set the Paradoxes aside for the time being. I'm surprised they weren't reserved for the very end of the dex, like Ultra Beasts were, but we have a couple of non-legendaries, actual legendaries, and finally some legendary paradoxes to go before we're done with Scarlet and Violet's base Pokedex, pre-DLC.

So, first up is this gen's "pseudolegendary" dragon critter, a dragon/ice type referred to as the "ice fin Pokemon." It is also the new ugliest Pokemon I've ever seen. I don't often feel that bluntly negative about anything's physical appearance but this is another wholly UNPLEASANT design that really didn't have to be. It actually looks like someone took Treecko's model and squashed it down into a neckless egg shape, and in fact it has almost the same identical structure to its eyes, brows, snout and little knob-tipped digits. It's kind of like if Treecko was an ingrown toenail.

Arctibax is a little better, thankfully. Not stellar, but completely inoffensive; just a greyish bipedal dinosaur with an ice fin on its back and an angular "mask" of ice around its mouth.

Baxcalibur, finally, is yet another Pokemon that looks like a knockoff of Godzilla. We've got about four or five of those now, right? Well, this one's ice based, and it's not bad either really; its back fin is now one big, deadly looking blade in a shape similar to one of Godzilla's iconic back spikes, and its entire face is now jagged and icy except for its narrow, yellow eyes. It's a competent Pokemon, nothing spectacular, kind of an icy homage to Tyranitar. It's unfortunately another of those whose "main artwork" looks exactly like the stiff, lifeless idle pose of its 3-d game model. It looks TERRIBLE. There is no joy in this drawing at all. Just compare it to Tyranitar's:

Or, once again, to TCG art:

Hey, that looks actually decent now!

If there's one thing that's actively great about this Pokemon though, it's the signature move, Glaive Rush. To use Glaive Rush, Baxcalibur rolls forward onto its head and employs its "icy breath" as a means of jet propulsion, flying backwards blade-first into its enemy. This is a direct reference to the (charmingly) dumbest thing Godzilla has ever been shown doing, when he used his own breath to fly backwards in none other than his battle against Hedorah:

It's not really my thing, its first stage is atrocious and its primary illustration makes it look like a lifeless statue, but Baxcalibur isn't too bad in the end.